The 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 16th FIFA World Cup, was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. France was chosen as host nation by FIFA on 2 July 1992. The tournament was won by France, who beat Brazil 3-0 in the final.

France won their first title, becoming the seventh nation to win a World Cup, and the sixth (after Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany and Argentina) to win the tournament on home soil. This was the first FIFA World Cup in which 32 teams competed at the finals. The official match ball was the Adidas Tricolore.

Four nations qualified for the World Cup for the first time: Croatia, Jamaica, Japan, and South Africa. Iran and Tunisia both qualified for the first time since 1978, while Paraguay and Denmark qualified for the first time since 1986. Hosts France also returned after a 12-year absence.

Among the teams who failed to qualify were two-time winners Uruguay (for the second successive tournament) and 1994 bronze-medallist Sweden. Russia failed to qualify for the first time since they qualified as the USSR in 1978. Germany, Italy, Argentina, Spain, Romania and the Netherlands were seeded along with defending champion Brazil and host France.

For the first time in FIFA's history, the draw took place in a football stadium - Stade Vélodrome in Marseilles, on 4 December 1997. Norway was the last remaining European team in Pot 3, destined to be in Brazil or Argentina's group, which was the former. The official mascot of this World Cup was Footix, a cockerel with the words "FRANCE 98" on the chest.

Its body is mostly blue, like the host's national team shirt and its name is a portmanteau of "football" and the ending "-ix" from the popular Astérix comic strip. www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=1013/index.html.

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